On the Balcony

Berthe Morisot · 1871/72

Medium

Watercolor, with touches of gouache, over graphite, on off-white wove paper

Original size

20.6 × 17.3 cm (8 1/8 × 6 13/16 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Impressionism

On the Balcony captures a quietly luminous moment — a woman and child pausing above the rooftops of Paris, rendered in Morisot's characteristically airy, unhurried hand. Berthe Morisot was one of the founding members of the Impressionist movement and the only woman to exhibit in the group's first landmark show in 1874. Where many of her contemporaries painted the streets and cafés of modern Paris, Morisot turned her gaze inward — toward domestic interiors, gardens, and the small rituals of private life. Her watercolors in particular show an almost effortless control of light; she knew how to leave breathing room on the page, letting the off-white ground work as tone rather than absence. This work, made around 1871–72 and now held at the Art Institute of Chicago, predates her Impressionist debut and shows her already in full command of the fluid, observational style she would become known for. Morisot studied under Camille Corot in her twenties, and his influence — the soft atmospherics, the refusal of hard edges — can be felt throughout her early work. Our hand-painted oil reproduction translates that delicacy with care, preserving the warmth of the original composition while giving the work a presence suited to living with every day.